In various electronic devices including communication devices, the electronic devices are configured by housing a plurality of printed circuit boards mounting electronic circuits performing various signal processing in a case of the electronic devices.
To date, a structure in which guide rails incapable of being removed are provided in a case of an electronic device, and in which printed circuit boards are held and housed between the guide rails has been used as the case of the electronic device housing the plurality of printed circuit boards. FIG. 1 is a front view illustrating positions at which printed circuit boards are housed in a conventional case of an electronic device.
As illustrated in FIG. 1, a case 1 of an electronic device includes a plurality of guide rails 5a to 5c provided in the inside of a frame 2 configuring the case of the electronic device, the guide rails 5a to 5c being incapable of being removed and extending from a front surface toward a back surface of the frame 2. The guide rails 5a to 5c include holding parts 7 provided on one side or both sides of the guide rails 5a to 5c, the holding parts 7 extending from the front surface toward the back surface of the frame 2 and sandwiching and holding side edges of the printed circuit boards 6. One printed circuit board 6 is housed by being held between any two of the guide rails 5a to 5c and connected to a backboard 3 through a connector 4 in a state in which side edges on both of right and left sides of the printed circuit board 6 are held by the holding parts 7 provided on two guide rails.
However, depending on an electronic device, printed circuit boards having different substrate sizes (width dimensions of substrates) or different substrate thicknesses may need to be used. In such a situation that an electronic device is configured by using printed circuit boards having different sizes, a case corresponding to the printed circuit boards having different substrate sizes and different substrate thicknesses has been designed and arranged.
On the other hand, a case of an electronic device is known in which printed circuit boards having different substrate sizes (width dimensions of substrates) or different substrate thicknesses can be held by changing attachment positions of guide rails. Above all, a case of an electronic device is known in which guide rails can be attached to arbitrary positions depending on the sizes of printed circuit boards (for example, see Patent Documents 1 and 2).
For example, an example of a module system frame housing a module substrate is known. In the example of this module system frame, supporter parts compartmentalizing the space among facing outside wall parts and wall parts can hold the module substrates. Additionally, the dimensions of the supporter parts are variable including the absence or presence, and the sizes of the module substrates capable of being held are variable.
Additionally, an example of a communication device shelf is also known in which an intermediate guide rail is attached in an arbitrary position depending on the size of a printed circuit board. In this example, the communication device shelf houses a plurality of large and small plug-in electronic circuit packages having different substrate heights. The communication device shelf includes a plurality of partition plates dividing the inside of the shelf into a number of functional blocks. Additionally, the communication device shelf includes an intermediate guide between the adjacent partition plates, at a predetermined position in a height direction of the partition plate. The intermediate guide is provided vertically, is supported by supporting means, and is removable with respect to the supporting means from a front surface of the shelf. Additionally, the intermediate guide includes substrate guidance grooves provided at a predetermined interval on both the main face and the reverse face, the substrate guidance grooves facing each other.
Japanese Laid-open Patent Publication No. 2005-26388 and Japanese Laid-open Patent Publication No. 09-181467 are background arts of this technical field.
However, in a small electronic device, when the electronic device is configured by performing connection between printed circuit boards having different substrate sizes and different substrate thicknesses through a backboard, there are situations as described below.
For example, the example of the module system frame has a structure in which unit supporters corresponding to guide rails are vertically stacked in a stack to configure a supporter part. Therefore, the stacked unit supporter may be not able to be separately attached and removed without removing other unit supporters. As a result, when one unit supporter is removed, a printed circuit board not directly supported by the unit supporter may also have to be removed. Then, when the printed circuit board is removed, power feeding to the electronic device may also have to be stopped.
Additionally, in the example of the shelf for communication to which the intermediate guide rail has been attached, a structure is included in which the plurality of printed circuit boards are attached to each intermediate guide corresponding to the intermediate guide rail. Therefore, the sizes of the adjacent printed circuit boards may not be able to be changed. Additionally, the intermediate guide has such a structure that the intermediate guide is inserted so as to put an intermediate guide-supporting pin in a back side of the case into a groove in a back side of the intermediate guide, and then is inserted so as to put an intermediate guide-supporting pin in the front surface side into a groove in a front surface side of the intermediate guide. Therefore, when the intermediate guide is attached and removed, the intermediate guide is inserted and removed while rotating around the intermediate guide-supporting pin in the back side of the case. Thereby, the intermediate guide may contact other members in the shelf including the printed circuit boards. As a result, when the intermediate guide is attached and removed, power feeding to the electronic device configured by the shelf for communication may also have to be stopped.
In accordance with an example, a position of a guide rail can be readily changed without stopping power feeding to an electronic device, and printed circuit boards having different sizes can be housed without newly designing a case.